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Liberia truth commission delegates recommend war crimes tribunal

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Delegates to Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) have recommended that a war crimes court be established to try individuals accused of committing atrocities during the country's 1989-2003 civil war. Thirteen representatives from each of Liberia's 15 counties met with the TRC during week-long Regional County Consultations to allow the committee an opportunity to gather popular feedback. In a press release issued Friday, the delegates called for granting amnesty to children and others forcibly conscripted to fight and for "perpetrators who made full disclosures during the TRC Public Hearings of their actual roles in the conflict." The TRC, which was established by the peace accord that ended the 14-year civil war to document and investigate human rights violations during the civil war, also endorsed the creation of a war crimes court in January. The TRC held its first public session in January 2008, after beginning its work in October 2006 and stalling due to lack of funding in June 2007. Former Liberian president Charles Taylor is currently on trial in the The Hague before the Special Court for Sierra Leone for crimes against humanity. In January, Taylor's son, Charles Arthur Emmanuel, was sentenced to a 97-year jail term by a US federal district court for committing torture in Liberia.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on May 26, 2009 (boomark / email).